Health Benefits of Chocolate

cozmik

How much cocoa do you need to eat to get a health benefit?

The short answer is: not much!

Health benefits have been associated with the consumption of 100-300 mg/day of procyanidins. (Procyanidins are a category of antioxidants with various health-giving properties. Cocoa is exceptionally rich in procyanidins, and this is the category of chemicals that gets people excited about cocoa's health-giving potential).

So, if you wanted to consume 200mg/day of procyanidins, you would need to eat somewhere in the vicinity of:
5g per day of non-alkalised cocoa powder, or
10g per day of 100% cocoa liquor, or
15g per day of 70% cocoa solids chocolate

These amounts are based on procyanidin levels in non-alkalised cocoa products that contain no dairy.

Ref:
Gu et al (2006) Procyanidin and Catechin Content and Antioxidant Capacity of Cocoa ...

It's worth noting that these numbers are based on procyanidin levels in commercial cocoa and chocolate products from "major brands" that have undoubtedly been processed in all of the normal ways (i.e. the cocoa has been fermented and roasted etc).


Source: thechocolatelife.com

rubadub

Ahh yes, but we know the RDAs are low, e.g. vitamin C are just enough to stave off scurvy, and most people take lots more, some quote it as 60mg and people can be taking 2000mg per day.

I will use the same logic with my chocolate, just to make sure I am getting enough :pac:

EileenG

I saw a study where they feed chocolate to different groups of people to see if they affected blood pressure, and they used 40g per day as the amount. And yes, it did lower BP.